Fan housing with metal foam and fan having the fan housing

ABSTRACT

A fan has a fan housing and an impeller mounted in the fan housing. The fan housing has a main case, and a foamed metal plate securely mounted in an air inlet of the main case. Hot air inhaled into the main case is forced to flow through pores in the foamed metal plate. Thus, heat in the hot air is conducted to the foamed metal plate and then to the main case. The heat in the hot air is dissipated to reduce temperature of the hot air in advance. Accordingly, heat dissipation efficiency of the fan is improved. Since the foamed metal plate hinders flow of the hot air, the hot air flowing into the main case is reduced. Therefore, air pressure and flowing speed of the hot air flowing into the main case is reduced, such that noise made by the fan is also reduced.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is based upon and claims priority under 35 U.S.C. 119from China Patent Application No. 201810791936.9 filed on Jul. 18, 2018,which is hereby specifically incorporated herein by this referencethereto.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a fan housing and a fan having thesame, especially to a fan housing that has metal foam disposed in an airinlet.

2. Description of the Prior Art(s)

With the progress of technology, processing speed of a computer has alsobeen continuously improved. In order to prevent the computer fromcrashing and having shortened service life due to overheating, most ofthe computers are equipped with heat dissipating devices. The heatdissipating device dissipates heat generated by electronic components inthe computer during operation of the computer, so as to keep thecomputer working normally.

One type of the heat dissipating devices installed in the computer isfan. A conventional fan has an impeller mounted in a housing. Theimpeller is driven to rotate by a motor and induces airflow to dissipatethe heat generated by the electronic components. However, generally,heat conduction efficiency and heat dissipation efficiency of gas areworse than those of solid metal. Therefore, cooling efficiency of theconventional fan has its limitation.

In addition, since developing trends of the computers nowadays arethinning and miniaturization, sizes of the conventional fans are alsoreduced. Thus, the impeller of the conventional fan is disposed quiteclose to the housing. Consequently, when rotation speed of the impelleris increased to generate a strong airflow and to enhance heatdissipation efficiency of the conventional fan, the airflow appliesperpendicular force onto a surface of the housing, and the force createsa high static pressure and produces high noise.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In view of the aforementioned problems, the main objective of thepresent invention is to provide a fan housing with a metal foam and afan with the fan housing. With the metal foam, heat dissipationefficiency of the fan can be improved and noise made by the fan can alsobe reduced.

In order to achieve the aforementioned objective, the fan housing inaccordance with the present invention has a main case and a foamed metalplate. The main case has an air inlet formed through the main case. Thefoamed metal plate is porous structured, is mounted in the air inlet ofthe main case, and is securely attached to the main case.

In order to achieve the aforementioned objective, the fan in accordancewith the present invention has a fan housing and an impeller. The fanhousing has a main case and a foamed metal plate. The main case has anair inlet formed through the main case. The foamed metal plate is porousstructured, is mounted in the air inlet of the main case, and issecurely attached to the main case. The impeller is mounted in the maincase and has an air inlet side facing the air inlet of the main case.The foamed metal plate covers the impeller.

In order to achieve the aforementioned objective, the fan in accordancewith the present invention has a fan housing and an impeller. The fanhousing has a main case and a foamed metal plate. The main case has anair inlet formed through the main case. The foamed metal plate is porousstructured, is mounted in the air inlet of the main case, and issecurely attached to the main case. The impeller is mounted in the maincase and has an air inlet side facing the air inlet of the main case.The foamed metal plate covers the impeller and the air inlet of the maincase.

Hot air that is inhaled into the main case is forced to flow throughpores in the foamed metal plate. Thus, heat in the hot air is conductedto the foamed metal plate and then to the main case. The heat in the hotair is dissipated to reduce temperature of the hot air in advance, andthen the hot air with reduced temperature is exhaled out of the maincase. Accordingly, the heat dissipation efficiency of the fan isimproved. Moreover, since the foamed metal plate hinders flow of the hotair, the hot air flowing into the main case is reduced. Therefore, airpressure and flowing speed of the hot air flowing into the main case isreduced, such that the noise made by the fan is also reduced.

Other objectives, advantages and novel features of the invention willbecome more apparent from the following detailed description when takenin conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a first embodiment of a fan inaccordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged cross-sectional side view of the first embodimentof the fan in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of a second embodiment of a fanin accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged cross-sectional side view of the second embodimentof the fan in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged cross-sectional side view of a fan housing of thefan in FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged cross-sectional side view of anotherimplementation of a fan housing in accordance with the presentinvention; and

FIG. 7 is an enlarged cross-sectional side view of still anotherimplementation of a fan housing in accordance with the presentinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

With reference to FIGS. 1 to 4, a fan in accordance with the presentinvention comprises a fan housing, an impeller 30. The fan housing has amain case 10 and a foamed metal plate 20A, 20B.

With reference to FIGS. 2 and 4, the main case 10 is made of metal andhas an air inlet 11 formed through the main case 10.

The foamed metal plate 20A, 20B is porous structured, is mounted in theair inlet 11 of the main case 10, and has an outer peripheral edge 21A,21B. The outer peripheral edge 21A, 21B of the foamed metal plate 20A,20B is securely attached to the main case 10. The foamed metal plate20A, 20B is made of materials such as aluminum, nickel, cooper, oralloys thereof, which have good thermal conductivity.

As shown in FIG. 1, in a first preferred embodiment, the foamed metalplate 20A is annular and covers part of the air inlet 11 of the maincase 10.

As shown in FIG. 3, in a second preferred embodiment, the foamed metalplate 20B corresponds in shape and size to the air inlet 11 of the maincase 10 and covers the air inlet 11 of the main case 10 completely.

With further reference to FIG. 5, in an implementation of the fanhousing, the outer peripheral edge 21B of the foamed metal plate 20B ismounted on and is embedded in an outer surface of the main case 10, suchthat the outer peripheral edge 21B of the foamed metal plate 20B issecurely attached to the outer surface of the main case 10.

With further reference to FIG. 6, in another implementation of the fanhousing, the foamed metal plate 20C is embedded in the air inlet 11′ ofthe fan housing 10′, and the outer peripheral edge 21C of the foamedmetal plate 20C is securely attached to a hole edge defined around theair inlet 11′.

With further reference to FIG. 7, in still another implementation of thefan housing, the outer peripheral edge 21D of the foamed metal plate 20Dis mounted on and is embedded in an inner surface of the main case 10″,such that the outer peripheral edge 21D of the foamed metal plate 20D issecurely attached to the inner surface of the main case 10″.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 4, the impeller 30 is mounted in the main case10 and corresponds in position to the air inlet 11. The impeller 30 hasan air inlet side 31 and an air outlet side 32. The air inlet side 31 ofthe impeller 30 faces the air inlet 11 of the main case 10. Theaforementioned foamed metal plate 20A, 20B covers the impeller 30 andthe air inlet 11 of the main case 10 simultaneously. As shown in FIG. 2,the annular foamed metal plate 20A covers part of the air inlet 11 andpart of the impeller 30 simultaneously. As shown in FIG. 4, the foamedmetal plate 20B that corresponds in shape and size to the air inlet 11of the main case 10 covers the air inlet 11 and the impeller 30completely. In the preferred embodiments of the present invention, theimpeller 30 is a radial flow impeller.

When the impeller 30 is driven to rotate by a motor, hot air outside thefan housing is inhaled into the main case 10, 10′, 10″ through the airinlet 11, 11′ of the main case 10, 10′, 10″. As the hot air passesthrough the air inlet 11, 11′ of the main case 10, 10′, 10″, the hot airis forced to flow through pores in the foamed metal plate 20A, 20B, 20C,20D. The foamed metal plate 20A, 20B, 20C, 20D being porous structuredincreases contact area of the hot air with the foamed metal plate 20A,20B, 20C, 20D. Thus, heat in the hot air is efficiently conducted to thefoamed metal plate 20A, 20B, 20C, 20D, and the heat conducted to thefoamed metal plate 20A, 20B, 20C, 20D is further conducted to the maincase 10, 10′, 10″. Accordingly, the heat in the hot air is dissipated toreduce temperature of the hot air in advance, and then the hot air withreduced temperature is exhaled out of the main case 10, 10′, 10″ by theimpeller 30. Since heat conduction efficiencies and heat dissipationefficiencies of the foamed metal plate 20A, 20B, 20C, 20D and the maincase 10, 10′, 10″ that is made of metal are better than those of theair, heat dissipation efficiency of the fan is improved accordingly.

Moreover, when the hot air flows through the foamed metal plate 20A,20B, 20C, 20D, the foamed metal plate 20A, 20B, 20C, 20D hinders flow ofthe hot air, which causes reduction of the hot air flowing into the maincase 10, 10′, 10″. Therefore, air pressure and flowing speed of the hotair flowing into the main case 10, 10′, 10″ can be reduced, such thatnoise made by the fan is also reduced.

Even though numerous characteristics and advantages of the presentinvention have been set forth in the foregoing description, togetherwith details of the structure and features of the invention, thedisclosure is illustrative only. Changes may be made in the details,especially in matters of shape, size, and arrangement of parts withinthe principles of the invention to the full extent indicated by thebroad general meaning of the terms in which the appended claims areexpressed.

What is claimed is:
 1. A fan housing having: a main case having an airinlet formed through the main case; and a foamed metal plate beingporous structured, mounted in the air inlet of the main case, andsecurely attached to the main case.
 2. The fan housing as claimed inclaim 1, wherein the foamed metal plate covers part of the air inlet ofthe main case.
 3. The fan housing as claimed in claim 2, wherein thefoamed metal plate is annular.
 4. The fan housing as claimed in claim 1,wherein the foamed metal plate covers the air inlet of the main casecompletely.
 5. The fan housing as claimed in claim 4, wherein the foamedmetal plate corresponds in shape and size to the air inlet of the maincase.
 6. The fan housing as claimed in claim 1, wherein the foamed metalplate is made of aluminum, nickel, cooper, or alloys thereof.
 7. The fanhousing as claimed in claim 1, wherein the main case is made of metal.8. The fan housing as claimed in claim 1, wherein an outer peripheraledge of the foamed metal plate is securely attached to an outer surfaceof the main case.
 9. The fan housing as claimed in claim 1, wherein anouter peripheral edge of the foamed metal plate is securely attached toa hole edge defined around the air inlet.
 10. The fan housing as claimedin claim 1, wherein an outer peripheral edge of the foamed metal plateis securely attached to an inner surface of the main case.
 11. A fancomprising: a fan housing having a main case having an air inlet formedthrough the main case; and a foamed metal plate being porous structured,mounted in the air inlet of the main case, and securely attached to themain case; and an impeller mounted in the main case and having an airinlet side, and the air inlet side of the impeller facing the air inletof the main case, wherein the foamed metal plate covers the impeller.12. The fan as claimed in claim 11, wherein the foamed metal platecovers part of the impeller.
 13. The fan as claimed in claim 11, whereinthe foamed metal plate covers the impeller completely.
 14. A fancomprising: a fan housing having a main case having an air inlet formedthrough the main case; and a foamed metal plate being porous structured,mounted in the air inlet of the main case, and securely attached to themain case; and an impeller mounted in the main case and having an airinlet side, and the air inlet side of the impeller facing the air inletof the main case, wherein the foamed metal plate covers the impeller andthe air inlet of the main case.
 15. The fan as claimed in claim 14,wherein the foamed metal plate covers part of the air inlet and part ofthe impeller simultaneously.
 16. The fan as claimed in claim 14, whereinthe foamed metal plate covers the air inlet and the impeller completely.